On selection-regulated population dynamics in birds and mammals

I use the North American Breeding Bird Survey (Sauer et al. 2017) to construct 462 population trajectories with about 50 yearly abundance estimates each. Applying AIC model-selection, I find that selection-regulated population dynamics is 25,000 (95%:0.42-1.7e17) times more probable than density-regulated growth. Selection is essential in 94% of the best models explaining 82% of the population dynamics variance across the North American continent. Similar results are obtained for 111, 215, and 420 populations of British birds (BTO 2020), Danish birds (DOF 2020), and birds and mammals in the Global Population Dynamic Database (GPDD 2010). The traditional paradigm---that the population dynamic growth rate is a function of the environment, with maximal per-capita growth at low population densities, and sub-optimal reproduction from famine at carrying capacities with strong competition for limited resources---is not supported. Selection regulation generates a new paradigm where the world is green and individuals are selected to survive and reproduce at optimal levels at population dynamic equilibria with sufficient resources. It is only the acceleration of the population dynamic growth rate, and not the growth rate itself, that is determined by the density-dependent environment, with maximal growth occurring at the densities of the population dynamic equilibrium.

Evidence of a Threshold Size for Norwegian Campsites and Its Dynamic Growth Process Implications—Does Gibrat’s Law Hold?

Although campsites are an important segment of the tourist sector, few applied articles have analyzed their growth path and tested Gibrat’s Law for firms within this industry. This knowledge can be of importance to the authorities when analyzing the regional impacts of growth in this sector. With government statistics from the last decade, we use a GMM framework to test the stricter version of Gibrat’s Law, which consist of three parts: the campsites’ growth trend, how they carry over success and failure, and how volatile their size is. The first and third part are rejected for Norwegian campsites, leading to a rejection of Gibrat’s Law. To see if firms of different sizes follow different dynamics, we split the sample in three parts. Here, we find evidence of a threshold size, as large campsites follow a fundamentally different dynamic than small and medium campsites. Specifically, large campsites gain no stability in revenue by further increases in size, whereas they carry over success/failure across years. The opposite is true for the rest of the sector. Gibrat’s Law is rejected on at least one count for each of the sub-samples. Lastly, we supplement the analysis with economy-wide and firm-specific variables to test further hypotheses.

Skilled Labor Force as a Cornerstone of Entrepreneurial Economic Development - International Experience for Georgia

Labor force is utterly significant factor through which a product or service is created in any country. Consequently, the quality of the labor force is directly proportional to the entrepreneurial economic development, service standards and steady, dynamic growth as a whole. Proficient workforce has an ability to solve problems and efficiently adapt to changes in an ever-evolving world. It contributes to the development of the country's domestic production, as well as plays an important role in attracting foreign direct investments. The following paper outlines the importance of a qualified and skilled labor force for entrepreneurial economic progress and analyzes its various aspects. Additionally, in this regard, the study delineates current challenges in Georgia and examines the best examples of international practice. Finally, based on multifactorial analysis, the paper presents solutions and recommendations to solve existing problems, for long-term stable economic betterment.

Peculiarities of the formation of clusters of entrepreneurship in the regions of Russia

The national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Feder- ation imply the dynamic growth of small and medium-sized businesses, but its cur- rent state raises certain concerns. In these conditions, it is necessary to search and analyze new forms of work, including cluster integration. The purpose of the work is to study the potential of the cluster organization of small and medium-sized busi- nesses and analyze the features of the functioning of modern business clusters in Russia. As a result, it was found that in a number of countries there are clusters that include only small and medium-sized enterprises. Such clusters can create a single value chain and compete in the global market. At the same time, even a partial mani- festation of cluster effects has a positive effect on entrepreneurial activity. To a cer- tain extent, similar trends are taking place in Russia. However, clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises in the domestic economy are poorly studied and are rarely formalized. An analysis of Russian clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises with an institutionally fixed status showed that their creation often depends on a sub- jective factor. More often this is resorted to by non-resource regions that need new points of growth. Clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises are very unevenly distributed over the territory of Russia, and this is due to the large number of ―hid- den‖ clusters. Tourism and information technology prevail among the types of eco- nomic activities. This can be explained by the ubiquitous spread of entrepreneurial structures of the corresponding profile. The period of operation of the cluster has no statistically significant relationships with the total number of employees and the av- erage number of employees per enterprise. Consequently, further in-depth studies of the problems and features of the functioning of such clusters, including unofficial ones, are required.